France takes another step towards economic suicide and nativism. Where is the conservative alternative?

Le Pen won 42.5 percent in Pas de Calais and her party tripled its national vote

The results of the first round of French parliamentary elections are depressing. They confirm the drift of France – and much of the European continent – towards economic self-destruction and virulent nativism. The whole European Union project now looks so bankrupt that I wonder if the UK's withdrawal is enough. Is it possible physically to relocate the British Isles to the Pacific Ocean?

The exit poll figures don’t come as a surprise: they largely replicate what happened in the presidentials in April/May. Francois Hollande’s socialists are first with around 40 percent and the Rightwing UMP (Sarkozy’s allies) second with about 35 percent. The socialists have probably gained enough votes to form a majority in Parliament (presuming they caucus with the greens). Given that Hollande currently controls the Senate, that means he has the power to push through his radical program of tax and spend. This is despite the fact that government spending already accounts for 56 percent of France’s GDP and corporate taxes are already more than twice those of Germany. It’s logical that the voters should wish to lend authority to the new President; what would be the point of crippling a man who you just elected? But Hollande’s agenda is out of touch with what is necessary to stay competitive in a globalised world. If he succeeds in pushing through his policies, France’s malaise will last even longer and pull the continent further into debt.

But you can’t have a winner without a loser, and blame for Hollande’s victory should also be attributed to the UMP. Aside from running a rearguard action against the socialists that was hindered by a lack of clear policy difference, the UMP has become stuck in an existential conflict with the nationalist Front National. Headed by Marine Le Pen, there’s no denying that the FN has succeeded in rebranding itself as a populist party just as concerned about the Euro as it is immigration. It seems to have attracted around 14 percent of the vote (three times what it received in the last parliamentary elections) and Le Pen personally won Pas de Calais with a staggering 42.5 percent. Take note, Britain. The place we associate with £1 ferry trips and cheap wine has just voted for the French equivalent of Nick Griffin

There will be a temptation among some observers to reason that success legitimises Marine, proving that she is now a more centrist political force that represents a justifiably restive middle-class. After all, aren’t many of her policies shared by mainstream politicians in the Conservative Party or UKIP? Is she, in sensitivities, a million miles away from the Tea Party?

Not so. Real conservatives are conservatives because they want to stop radicals like Le Pen from coming to power. She isn’t a cure for the disease of malaise; she is a symptom. Only when an economy is close to collapse – and a society close to fracture – do people like her do well at the ballot box. The goal of conservatism is to apply policies that will elevate the economy and heal society so as to prevent extremes of Left or Right from winning. Sometimes, that necessitates appropriating some of her causes in order to assuage the anger of her voters. But the ultimate goal is to pacify, not concede. If true conservatives reduce immigration, it is to lessen racial tension. If they promote national identity, it is to foster common ground. Never mistake the forging of consensus for the endorsement of Le Pen’s moral evil.

And this is the mistake that the UMP has consistently made. By deporting gypsies or taking tough measures against Muslim citizens, they have sometimes basically endorsed the FN’s vision of Frenchness. Worse still, there were rumours in this election of deals being struck between UMP and FN candidates, all denied by the national leadership. The UMP mustn’t define itself as the palatable ally of the FN, nor even cast itself as the respectable alternative. It needs to build a platform that beats the socialists, brings back fiscal sanity to France and thus cures all the problems that lead to folks voting FN in the first place. France needs a real conservative party – tout de suite.